Evergreen
by Catheryne
Summary: Chlex Chruce ChloeBruce Motive. Betrayal. Passion. Envy. Trust. Love. Sometimes there's no difference. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Gotham City, Winter 2010

Ever. Ever. Evergreen.

She came to him once, ever green, like the land around the Nile, brilliant brilliant sparkling life. She came to him once, then a shadow of his old doubts encased in glimmering stain. She was a picture perfect thing like love denied.

In his dreams she came like mist towards him, as he was lying half covered by silken sheets on the bed they had once shared. He knew he was in a dream. Only his subconscious could be so fortunate. In those dreams the moon shone outside, so full and splendid that her blonde hair seemed to be a halo around her face.

Ever green.

Every memory unforgotten. He held them close in his heart. The days and the nights that she was his were stranded in some corner that ruled his brain when all else slipped away.

Someday soon, she promised in his sleep, like the way he promised that cold morning before frozen talons of dread crept past the shield he raised around her and sent her far.

"Someday soon," came the murmured vow againt her temple.

"I won't leave you," came a whisper-harsh promise carried in the cold air. "Not because of this. I'll stay. I'll make you let me stay!" she insisted.

She was a child then, he told himself. He half wanted her to be stronger, more powerful, less vulnerable to the evil that he feared would destroy her.

"Don't send me away," she pleaded with him as two of his most trusted men came to stand behind her. One took her by her arm. "You know I'll die, Bruce. I'll die without you."

His warm hands framed her ice-bitten face. Circular circles he rubbed on her cheekbones, erasing with his thumbs the tear-tracks that marred her skin. "And you know I will do anything to make sure that doesn't happen."

Ever ever ever green.

Green surrounded the field on which he stood when he sought escape from his nightmares of losing her to the life he led. The plane was streaked green from tail to nose, because green were her eyes and he adored her beyond the limits of the sky. That was the green that was his last sight of the plane before it disappeared into the clouds.

Evergreen.

She danced, glitering ecstatic figure; the whirling and twirling of the most beautiful creature in the world, atop the green green grass of the Wayne grounds, haunted his sleep.

Evergreen was the color of his nightmares.

Scenes more brutal than violent death were his nighttime companions. Nights blurred and music was the voices calling out over static. Records of the futile attempt to recover his love clawed into the depths in which he fought to be nightly buried.

She was torn grace from the dead grayness of his every day.

Ever ever ever green.

Metropolis, Summer 2007

It was the summer of 2007, as Lex Luthor sat comfortably surrounded by luxurious leather, that Lex glanced up from the amber liquid swirling inside his glass and sealed his fate. It was on that cold summer night that he laid eyes on a familiar figure walking down the street and made the choice – and choice it was – to tell his driver to slow down. It was his own hand that pushed the button to roll down his window so that he could call out to the young woman outside.

"Chloe Sullivan!" he called out.

He had not been certain, because it took her long to turn her head and peek at him through the curtain of short blonde hair. She was dressed unexpectedly, simple and plain as her attire was in that white button down shirt and black cotton pants. When she turned those eyes though, Lex would not mistake those brilliant greens. Even from the distance of the sidewalk to his seat in the limousine, they pierced him.

"Where are you headed?"

Chloe slowly turned around and stopped. Lex asked his driver to stop the vehicle as well. She cocked her head to the side, as if she did not recognize him. It was unbelievable, of course. No one who had ever met him forgot him.

"Lex Luthor," she said softly, enough recognition to satisfy his vanity. "How are you these days?"

Lex's eyebrows furrowed with concern. It did not seem to him an appropriate response from the girl he once knew. In fact, nothing but her eyes was brilliant. Chloe Sullivan had always been vivacious, thrumming with energy whether she was incensed, ecstatic or puzzled.

"I'm well," Lex answered. He opened the door and stepped outside. "Get in, Chloe." He reached for her arm and frowned. "You're already freezing. Get in and we'll catch up."

"I have to get home," she told him, sounding dazed, but allowed him to usher her in.

He climbed in after her and handed her his brandy. "That will warm you."

Clutching the glass with two hands, she tipped the drink and downed it. "Thank you," she said hoarsely.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Nothing. I'm just tired." Lex saw her force a smile as she asked, "Where are you headed? A date?"

"A dinner. I'll drop you off at home first if you will tell my driver where you're staying."

Chloe nodded and said to the man whose ear was ready. "2409 Overland Mansion." And then she glanced away, out the window.

Lex watched her actions and could not help the sinking feeling in his stomach. This was completely odd. Chloe was more than this silent ball of cold flesh, with unseeing eyes turned away. "Chloe," he said softly. She did not turn around. "Chloe," he repeated. He took her chin firmly in his hand and turned her head to face him.

It was then he saw her tears.

"I'm sorry," she gasped. "I broke up with Clark tonight."

It explained so much to Lex, though it did not make sense for her to grieve so much. Clearly it was Clark Kent who was on the losing end in the end of their relationship. Yet her pain was reflected in those eyes and he slid closer to her and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. Lex wrapped his arms around her.

They remained in that position with Lex whispering soothing words into her ear until he vehicle stopped and the driver cleared his throat. The door opened and the doorman bowed. Lex reluctantly released her from his arms. "I'll walk you up."

"No!" She laid a hand on his chest and pushed gently. "Go. You can't be late."

"I'll stand her up," he pronounced.

"Don't. She deserves more than I got from Clark," she advised. "Just drop by next time, okay?"

Enraptured, Lex nodded his assent and they drove away. She haunted his mind.

Ever green eyes permanently emblazoned on the backs of her eyelids. All during dinner he saw her face, heard her voice as the woman in front of him spoke. He will return for her and purge himself of this newfound addiction before it consumed him.

His companion seemed none the wiser of his preoccupation. Lex ended the evening early and asked for the check. When he slipped his hand inside his pocket for his wallet, he cursed. He swore he had his wallet before they went home.

Lex whispered to the waiter, and the response was, "Absolutely no problem, Mr. Luthor." Lex instead signed over the bill as his IOU in lieu of any of his cards.

He helped his date out of her chair and led her to the limousine. "Where to, Mr. Luthor?"

"We'll take Ms. Cassidy home," he replied, to the disappointment of his companion.

He had no time or inclination to reassure the young woman with him before he dropped her off at her house. And then, Lex leaned back in relief.

The driver's voce reached him with the question, "2409 Overland, Mr Luthor?"

Lex's lips curved and he responded, "If you insist. And remind my secretary that you need a raise."

"Very well, sir."

The same doorman opened the door to his limousine and Lex walked up the door when he barred him. "I need the apartment number before you can come in, sir."

Lex's eyebrows rose. "Ms Sullivan's."

"I'm sorry but that won't do, sir. For security purposes you understand. I need to announce you too."

"I don't know! I need you to tell me how to get to Ms Sullivan's apartment."

The older doorman shook his head simply.

Lex growled in frustration. He fished for his mobile phone from his pocket and was shocked to find it missing as well. The day had been horrendous. He slammed into the limousine once more and took the car phone. He hated doing this, but he needed to reach her.

The other line rang once and there was an immediate answer. "Clark, I'll need Chloe's number."

"Lex," Clark Kent replied on the other line, "Chloe and I haven't been talking."

"I know you broke up," he said gruffly. "But I need you to give me the phone number."

"You don't understand, Lex. Chloe and I haven't seen each other since high school graduation. I don't know her contact number."

When Lex hung up the phone, he fumed at the back of the limousine. He was pretty certain he had his wallet and his phone when he got into the limo when he left Smallville. He had a nagging suspicion laced with images of green eyes.

Once again, he rolled down the window and addressed the doorman. "You remember the young lady I dropped off about two hours ago?" The doorman nodded. "Does she live there?"

"Ms Sullivan? No sir."

"Then why do you know her?"

"Because she always gets off a private car and hails a cab here."

Lex shook his head and rolled up his window. "Let's go home," he said. He glanced back at Overland Mansion and cursed soundly again when he saw the doorman speaking into what seemed very much like Lex's lost phone.

Chloe Sullivan had duped him.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Evergreen 2

2010

The lines of his hand were probably fascinating, Bruce Wayne thought idly. He would visit a palm reader, but he was just a little paranoid about his secret identity. Then again, should h really be so worried? Everybody had secret identities right?

He would think of anything, everything, except what was in front of him right now. He did not see her sitting by the window. He really did not. Bruce only knew that his fascinating palm lines lay in front of him, a mystery waiting to be unraveled. Bruce was unmoved by the way her fingers trembled as she reached up to wipe the silent streaks off her cheeks.

"Talk to me," came Chloe's whisper soft plea.

And Bruce wondered if the lines of his wrist also had meaning.

"When will you talk to me?" she asked. "When, Bruce?"

Should Alfred not be knocking on te door by this time, to inform them that dinner had been served?

Bruce certainly did not see how she stood from her seat and started towards him. He did not care how she stood right in front of him so still, waiting for some form of acknowledgment.

"You've always told me I'm stubborn and proud, and that they were compliments."

And he had. A hundred thousand million times. She was gorgeous and intelligent and stubborn. Always had been. Bruce never thought she would use all that to work against him. Should have known though. Since she came into his life, Chloe had been too good to be true.

Bruce would have known that earlier had he only been brave enough to have his palm read.

Her hand closed around his. Bruce finally looked up and met her eyes, only too see her slowly fall to her knees. It was the only time he spoke since he found out her unholy connection to Lex Luthor.

"Get up," he said tersely.

Her eyes closed tightly, at the sweet sweet sound of his voice.

"Get up, Chloe. You're not earning any points."

She shook her head. "I need you to hear me out, Bruce."

He pushed away from her, and Chloe stumbled her side, on both hands. Bruce quickly moved to help her up, but caught himself before he reached her.

"I just want to know why, Chloe. Didn't I give you enough?" he demanded. "Because I don't have anymore. I gave you all of me."

She turned to him. "And I didn't, Bruce?"

At that, he knelt in front of her. "You were working with the son of the devil to bring me down!" he exploded.

Chloe cringed.

"I thought you loved me," he said in a more controlled manner.

"And I thought I've done enough for you to never have to doubt that," she replied.

"You've done enough alright."

Gingerly, she picked herself up. "I've lost my pride," she said. "If I were the same person who came here a year ago, Bruce, I would have walked out of your forever because of what happened now. But I've changed since we were together. I guess I lost my pride the moment I fell in love with you."

He did not move to get up as well. It was never this easy, he had learned. In this life, you must question your blessings. He made the mistake of accepting the gift of Chloe at face value once. He would not make the same mistake again. He refused to believe that their love turned her loyalty from the man he just found out she served, Lex Luthor, to the loser who had been fooled into giving her his heart, himself.

"I'm staying, Bruce, because I know if I walked out of here right now you will remember me as the woman who pretended to be in love with you."

"That's who you are."

"Maybe at first," she admitted. "There's no sense denying it."

"When did you start working for him?" he finally found the courage to ask. "Did he come to you when we fought two months ago? Did you decide to be his spy right after we got engaged? Tell me, Chloe, so I know exactly what I did wrong to deserve your betrayal."

Chloe stepped forward until she was standing right in front of him, and he had to look up to see her. She reached down to bury her fingers in his hair. "I came to Gotham City looking for you at his bidding."

He shut his eyes tightly in despair.

"He gave me the invitation to that charity ball."

Bruce had followed her around that ball like a puppy. She didn't recognize him nor notice him. At least she had pretended she hd no interest in him whatsoever. She had strung him along.

"Lex was the reason I was always around, Bruce. And then you finally asked me to dinner."

She had slept with him on that first date, and Bruce's guts twisted. "What you had done for that man," he murmured.

Clearly, she thought of the same thing he did. "No, Bruce," she corrected him. "What I had done for myself. On that first night I called him and said I wouldn't do it. I didn't want to work for him anymore. Everything that happened after that, I did for myself."

He released a long-held breath and reached his arms up around her legs. He buried his face against her thighs.

"You forgive me?"

"The worst thing about it is I was never as angry at you as I was at myself."

He finally stood and clutched her tightly to him.

"He will try over and over to bring you down," she breathed against his shirt.

He nodded. "He's got to be angry with you too."

She smiled. "If you call threathening messages over the phone and email anger, then I guess he is."

"I swear I'll protect you."

Ever green eyes equate to ever green love, forever fresh, forever new. So very long ago and yet it seemed like yesterday.

Ever ever ever green.

2007

Lex could not believe he had lost that deal. It had been so insanely petty he could not believe that Lex Luthor would lose to Bruce Wayne because of a simple missed phone call. He had forgotten to have his phone suspended, and damn Chloe Sullivan again for stealing it. The CEO of Kings Bros. mentioned in his letter that his executive assistant had left the meeting date and time with the older man who answered his phone. Since Lex never showed, they gave the contract to Wayne Enterprises.

Bruce Wayne didn't do anything except bid against him, so he really did nothing wrong. The fact that he was beaten though, made Lex understandably mad.

Chloe Sullivan, on the other hand, actually did something wrong. Lex Luthor was furious with her. If he saw that lying thief again, he would snap her precious white neck.

Lex had some amount of alcohol before he even left the house to go to the club. He was out in search of a perticular man. Sure, Chloe stole his phon and his wallet. That in itself was unfair. It was also stupid of him to be duped. However, being the businessman that he was, Lex always had backup. There was a man installed in the Kings Bros. office to update him on developments such as this. He was now in search of why that backup didn't work.

He climbed the spiral staircase to the balcony so he could scope out the club.

Lex noticed the man over at the bar doing some body shots with a young lady. His eyes narrowed. If George McNamara had been too busy doing body shots the entire time, then he most likely would get nothing done. He was about to call out to George when the young lady doing body shots with him turned around.

And unmistakably, beneath the shimmering powder and heavy eye makeup, it was Chloe Sullivan. Ah, this was going to be a fruitful night. As Lex rushed over to confront the two, h noticed Chloe reach for George and slip her hand down his back pocket. As George took his time nibbling on her ear, Chloe had done enough to pick out what seemed to be a white card out of the wallet. Deftly, pretending to be grabbing his butt, Chloe put the wallet back into his pocket.

George whispered something into Chloe's ear. Lex watched her grin and shake her head, then walk away from the man. He decided that George could wait.

Chloe kept glancing behind her as she made hr way to the back exit of the club. When she reached it, she inspected the card under the streetlight.

"Is that an AMEX?"

Chloe whirled around and slipped the card inside her pocket. "Mr Luthor."

"Oh Chloe. After everything that happened to us that night, I think you can call me by my first name. You know what it is right, given that you have all my credit cards and ID cards."

She folded her arms across her chest. "I don't really know what you're talking about."

"Didn't figure you for a petty thief."

"I'm insulted!" she proclaimed.

Lex shook his head. "I'm betting if I slip my hand down your pants... pocket, I will draw out George's credit card."

"I'll take that bet," she challenged. When he started to approach her, she fended him off. "Let's talk terms."

She was magnificent. He had never been in such height--a mixture of anger and lust was not healthy. "I win, you give me back what you stole from me."

"I win?" she prompted.

"Then you can get whatever you want from me," he spread his arms. "My watch alone will pay for your college fund."

Her lips turned into a smirk. "Deal." She walked towards Lex and thrusted her hips towards him. "Go ahead," she whispered. "Slip it in."

Lex let his breath leave his body slowly through his teeth. "Thief," he whispered, but it sounded like an endearment.

"Look who's talking," she whispered back.

Lex slipped his hand into her pants pocket. Instead of drawing out the plastic card, he moved it aside and turned his hand so that he could lay his palm against her thigh.

Chloe could feel the heat of his skin through the leather. She placed her hands on his chest to push him away, only to find them crawling to his back. She turned her head so that her lips hovered right below his.

Lex took the card between his two fingers and drew it out. Then, without even looking at it, he dropped it onto the ground. He took her face between his hands and kissed her hungrily. They stumbled together until she was against the wall.

"You--lied--about Clark--about everything," he said in between kisses.

Chloe moaned when his lips left hers to explore her neck. She felt his hurried fingers unbuttoning her pants. "Do you really care?" she gasped out.

"Not right now, I don't." He helped her kick off the pants.

Then, Lex unzipped his own pants and lifted her thighs up so that he could step between her legs. He lifted her against the wall and looked straight into her eyes.

"This is so fast," she breathed.

"I hope you don't say that after."

Chloe smiled. "You don't know how long I waited for this."

Lex was about to ask, when she placed her hands on his buttocks and pulled her against her. He hissed as he felt her, hot and tight around him, and thrusted home. When he felt something inside her break, he tipped her chin up and saw her tightly shut eyes. "God," he said in disblief.

She clutched at his shoulders tightly, desperate, moving against him through the pain that was clearly etched on her forehead. "Give me everything," she whispered into his ear.

And he vowed, in that alley, against the wall while he pushed into oblivion inside her body, staring into eyes greener than green in passion, "I will."

tbc 


	3. Chapter 3

Evergreen 

Part 3

2010

She was barefoot on the grass, like a pretty white swab of paint on a green expanse of Monet brushes. He adored watching her twirling happily as if she had no care in the world. Her laughter tinkled in the air like the windchimes his mother used to hang by his window.

Sh turned towards him and stopped. Chloe extended her arms towards him and gave him a vibrant smile, beaming all her joy. "Take my hands, Bruce," she urged him.

Seated on the blanket where most of their lunch remained half-eaten, Bruce shook his head. "I'll stay here. I just want to watch you."

Chloe's eyebrows furrowed, and she grinned lopsidedly. Then, with her hands on her waist, she cocked her head to the side. "Watch me?" she repeated. "What do you want to watch me for? There's nothing extraordinary for you to see here." With a teasing glint in her eye, Chloe turned her back to him and called out into the wind, "Are you going to watch me shake my booty?" Chloe carefully rolled her hips. Then, she whirled around and with the same coy look, she extended her hands again.

"You don't even have to say a word," he murmured. Bruce rose to his kness, then onto his feet. He placed his hands over hers. "I adore you."

"You adore my hips," she parried playfully.

"I don't deny it," he said, smiling. Bruce leaned down and brush his lips on the tip of her nose. "But not as much as your nose." Then her lips. "And your sometimes potty mouth."

"Awww shut the hell up. You're so romantic."

He raised her hand to his lips. "But your fingers could use improvement."

She snatched her hand away. "Now why did you have to go and say that?"

"Don't pull away, Chloe. I have just he thing to make your hand perfect."

Her heart stopped when he undid the top two buttons of his shirt. Hanging from a gold strand around his neck, Chloe glimpsed the sparkle of twin gold bands and a diamond ring.

Bruce smiled proudly, because he had aimed to take her breath away. It took a lot to silence her, and he had done that today. Bruce Wayne had risen victorious in countless biddings and deals. For the first time, his heart thundered as he waited for her response.

"Bruce, no," she whispered.

And the strong heart fractured at those two words. "Do you love me?"

"You don't have to ask."

"Then why?" he asked, looking deep into teary green eyes.

"I will accept the ring," she assured him. "Don't ever doubt that. Give me a week, Bruce. Let me just finish something."

"Master Bruce," a man's voice broke through in his subconscious, shattering the remnants of memory that had been nestling on his lashes. "Master Bruce." He shook himself awake and found himself completely devoid of the brightness of the dream. Instead of th lovely young woman he had been holding in his arms, he looked up into the face of an aging man who served him well.

"Alfred."

"Master Bruce, everything's prepared."

They were the same words that Alfred had uttered a few days ago, back when Bruce still saw hints of a silver lining behind he clouds.

"Thank you, Alfred."

"Bring her back, Master Bruce. If anyone can find her, you can."

Bruce Wayne nodded, and walked before the butler towards the door. "Your breakfast is in the dining room." Instead of turning left in that direction, Bruce snatched his jacket from the chair and stalked out of the manor. "Very well, Master Bruce."

Bruce Wayne ran towards the helicopter waiting on the grounds. Before he climbed in, he was stopped still by the rush of memories. On this very patch of green grass now ruined by the aircraft, Chloe had stood a few days ago.

"Don't send me away. Not because of this," she insisted.

"Listen to me," he had said harshly, needing to hold her to him forever but knowing that it was the decision he had to make. "Lex Luthor will not stop until he has everything. I will not let him touch you. I'll come for you when I bring him down. I swear."

"When?"

"Someday soon," he had vowed to her against her temple. He had tried to warm her, because she was then so very very cold. "I'll come for you soon."

Bruce Wayne closed his eyes and tried to forget the promise of a reunion that now seemed so impossible. He boarded the helicopter and remained still as they lifted from the ground.

It had been an endless nightmare that started when four hours from takeoff, he had received word that the plane he had forced her to get into was lost over the Pacific. Only last night did he hear the news he had been waiting for and dreading.

The crash site had been found.

"I'll come for you soon," he vowed.

Evergreen promises were meant to be kept.

Metropolis

Lex Luthor lay on the bed, watching her every move since she slipped into the dark hospital room. She reached for his pale hand that lay on top of the white sheets. Her hair was a mess, and it looked as if she only threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt. It was so obvious to him that when she had heard about his collapse, she had rushed to the hospital immediately. She was his delicate girl whe wasn't thieving around.

Two years ago, when Lex saw her again after so long, he had no idea losing his phone would change his life so. She had intrigued him with the way she took from him. He had seen her in action. She was fantastic. It was later that night when he found that she had picked McNamara's pocket for his proximity card. It was the same thing she needed from Lex's own wallet. She had been setting up her own privilege access for the largest corporations, starting with Lex and McNamara to get her insider scoop on the Kings and Luthor bids. Little did she know that a few months after that, in a whirlwind romance that they struggled to keep from the press, she would have all the access she needed to LuthorCorp as Lex Luthor's wife.

"You collapsed in the office? Really Lex... Are you sure this new diet is for you?"

He smiled, because she was too transparent. That's why she should be his wife and not an investigative reporter. He had discussed this with Chloe. No two people escalated to their level of commitment so fast, so soon, without sharing the important things.

She sat beside him and peppered his hand with kisses. Chloe brushed her fingers over the sore skin where the doctors had placed his dextrose.

"You're going to be visiting the hospital more frequently, you know. Are you ready for that?"

"Hmmm." She did not want to agree to that, because it meant he would be sick for a long time.

He knew she knew. Her beautiful eyes held too much intelligence not to have found out by now. When the doctors first diagnosed him with a cancer because of his prolonged exposure to the meteor rocks, Chloe had vanished for days.

He knew she knew, because when she came back her green eyes were not as vivid as they were when she left.

He had known. He had known for a long time and finally, he addressed the knowledge she was forcing herself to hide.

"I know you're frustrated," he told her. "I am too."

"You're paying your researchers so much and they can't even reproduce it?"

The only antidote rested in the restricted projects department of Wayne Enterprises. It was the unpublished and secret research that Wayne had buried because it was found illegal. The same crime Luthor Corp committed when Lex manipulated the rocks that stole ino his veins.

"Wayne has invested his own research into it as well, I believe. The government has completely banned it. There is no way we can even filch a copy of the formula. No one in my team is that good."

Chloe squeezed his hand. "I am. I can take it from Wayne."

"I can't ask you to do that."

She smiled. "You didn't." Chloe stood up and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Hang on, Lex. Why did I perfect my craft if I can't take what I need from Bruce Wayne. I've done it to you right?"

"Chloe, I don't want you to go there. Bruce Wayne can be... ruthless."

"So can I," she said lightly. Then, Chloe whispered into his ear, her voice firmer and more determined. "I'll come right back, Lex, I swear. I'll make you better. I will not become a widow sitting down."

He shook his head and took her hand. "Going to Wayne and taking something, endangering yourself like this... you don't need to do it, Chloe. You've made me better the very day you walked back into my life and made a fool out of me."

"I love you," she swore, and left a lingering kiss on his lips.

Chloe had blown him a kiss on her way out of the door.

It was the very last sight he had of Chloe. Two months later, the antidote arrived by FedEx. He had been half-insane with worry when she did not return. Five months after that Lex Luthor's splintered. He turned on the tv set and learned that his wife had become Bruce Wayne's fiance. Divorce papers came by UPS.

Strengthened by medicine that cost him his entire heart, Lex Luthor plotted against the woman who stole more than mobile phone.

Later, he learned that Bruce Wayne's mad scramble to hide Lex's estranged wife had shattered his own world.

Lex Luthor turned on the television to the coverage of the crash site.

Lex grabbed the bottle of the antidote and threw it into the television screen, crying out his anger and despair.

Pictures of the burning wreckage embedded in the picture perfect virgin forest was starkly etched in his brain.

Evergreen colored death and ruin haunted his steps.

tbc


	4. Chapter 4

Evergreen 

Part 4

The noise was like short, constant bursts of thunder. Lex Luthor looked up the shy and watched the steady descent of the aircraft. That bore Bruce Wayne, he was certain--Bruce Wayne come to lay claim over the crash site that Lex had scoured for a full twenty hours before Wayne arrived. Yet when Wayne sets foot on the site, he was certain Wayne would be the only victim of a tragic loss. He had perfected grief over the years of course. Wayne was going to be the portrait of a man who had lost his all; Lex, a cold-hearted observer.

It was nothing short of a scene from a movie. Wayne could not wait until landing to turn the place outside down. Thirty more feet up in the air, the aircraft opened and in full black rescue gear, Bruce Wayne jumped out. With no word to anyone else, Bruce began his search.

Lex was certain that Wayne had seen him. He sat on that small chair he brought for comfort and watched in the remaining hours before darkness fell as Wayne toiled. As the sky began to weep under the blanketing night, Lex heard the call of Bruce's team, who followed soon as their small plane landed, for him stop for rest.

Lex recognized what slim chance he had to fall asleep with the Gotham men hollering the way they did. He poured a cup of coffee and walked over to Wayne, then extended it to him.

Bruce turned to Lex and took the cup.

"Sit for a while," Lex told him.

"She loves coffee," mentioned Bruce.

The words put Lex on alert. He was certain about what the statement signaled. He would nip it in the bud. "You won't get me to reminisce about her."

With a long weighing look, Bruce then shook his head at Lex. "That is the difference between you and me. I will never be afraid to talk about what I feel for her." With a self-satisfied claim, he continued, "She is my fiance after all."

Lex sighed and stared into fire. When it came to Chloe Bruce seemed to be so very young. He almost wanted to protect Bruce from the reality of who this woman was, whom he placed so high on a pedestal.

"You should go back to Metropolis," Bruce advised the now silent man. He focused on the same portion of the fire as Lex, in time to see a piece of wood collapse and send sparks flying up. "There's nothing here for you."

"Maybe I want to find my wife."

Bruce slowly turned his head and stared at Lex.

"Are you even surprised?" Lex asks. "She'd fooled you once."

"I don't believe you."

Lex's lips quirked in amusement and recollection. "Half of the Luthor fortune, down the drain because of this." From his breast pocket, Lex drew out a worn picture and handed it to Bruce by holding it over the fire between two fingers. Bruce took the wedding picture between his steady hands. Eyes evergreen like the ones he remembered starkly even while he tried to forget. Triumph in Luthor's grin, immortalized on film. "She had access to everything. She's the best. You wouldn't even know that she's gutted you until you've seen your blood pooled on the floor. That's Chloe Luthor."

Bruce winced at the name. "You've turned her into that. Chloe loved me more than life itself," Bruce defended. "Maybe that's what your marriage didn't have. That's what our relationship is based on."

"Tell me, Bruce," Lex demanded, his eyebrows arched, "about the solid foundation of your relationship."

Bruce put down the coffee cup.

"The only thing that brought you together was her desire to take something from you -- for me."

Bruce leapt onto Lex and gripped his collar.

"Deny it," Lex urged him. "Deny it, Wayne. Go ahead."

Bruce Wayne let go of him and settled back on his seat. "Don't presume to know what she and I had," he said roughly, only half recognizing that he had first been guilty of the same. "I will not allow a criminal like you to speak so little of something you've never experienced." Then, something occurred to him regarding how ill Lex spoke of his wife. "Why are you even here?"

He walked away from Lex. Before he dropped out of earshot, Bruce heard Lex's reply, "I want to know that she's really dead. I want to see her corpse."

Closure would end both of their gut-twisting desires--one to get reasons and an apology, another to have a goodbye and a reaffirmation of love.

Lex looked back at the crash site. His thoughts drifted back to her, as if they really strayed away. Did it truly hurt that he remembered best a night of making love that had quickly turned into a contest? He smiled fondly at the memory, because Chloe had been moody the afternoon before. He had found her later in their library with a stack of books lined up like a wall against him. He had reached for her but she moved away.

"I'm reading, Lex. It's shameful how much of these I don't know."

"You're right. Knowledge is power."

"All right. Now will you please leave me alone?"

"Not quite."

Lex brushed his lips against her temple, and Chloe turned her face away. "What is the matter with you, Lex?"

"That's not the right question," he informed her matter-of-factly. "The question is, Chloe, what's the matter with you?"

"Look, Lex, I'm busy okay? Writers have to read too, you know."

Lex had then smirked in appreciation of a temperamental Chloe who needed to be wooed. "I bet you wouldn't take a wager that you can ask me anything in that book you're holding now and I can answer within thirty seconds."

She did not move at first, but he could easily tell that he had peaked her interest. Chloe slowly flipped through the pages, most likely searching through the pages for an item worthy of Lex Luthor's wager. "Fifty?" she asked.

"What do I need money for?" was his answer.

"Then what?"

"Your top."

For the first time since he came in, a smile graced Chloe's face at the recognition of his intent. "I'll take the same."

"One on one?" he offered.

With a tentative bite of her lower lip, Chloe nodded. "Which monarch was singlehandedly responsible for the English circuit courts?"

Without batting an eyelash, Lex replied, "Henry II." He had held out his hand waiting for Chloe to hand him her top. Once he had it,he tossed it to a far corner of the room, where it dropped half over a potted plant.

"God, Lex, you could have at least aimed for the chair."

His answer was simply, "Where was Rameses I's mummy found in the 20th century?"

It took her two seconds to answer. "Niagara Falls."

"What was the hesitation for, Chloe?" he asked as he unbuttoned his shirt and dropped it on the floor.

"I knew it was the answer, but I had to ask myself twice before I could say it."

"That's why you'll lose," he pointed out. "In the most important decisions, it's pointless to weigh things over and over. Go with your instinct. It's a gamble."

"Don't teach me how to play my game. Now," she asked, "in a series of four related poems by Wordsworth, he talks about a girl he loved and left. Who is this character that when he returned to her, she was dying?"

"Good work, Chloe," he granted, "but not good enough. You know I inherited my father's passion for poetry."

"Just say the name, Lex."

"Lucy," he pronounced. "Which by the way is a wonderful name for a baby girl."

"Lex," she chuckled, as she shrugged out of her pants, "we've been seeing each other for four months. Is this really the time to start freaking me out?"

"What was the name of Siegfried's wife?"

"Roy?" she joked. Lex arched his brows. "You're talking about Norse mythology, right?" He nodded. "His wife is Brunhild, Queen of Iceland."

Lex grinned. "Will it be the bra or the panties?"

Chloe's lips parted. "I was right!"

Lex reached out and pushed three books off the pile. He took one book and handed it to her. "Siegfried was in love with Brunhild. She loved him so much she was willing to die with him."

"I rest my case."

"Love doesn't mean she was his wife," Lex pointed out. "He was married to Krimhild while under a love spell."

When what he said teased some memory in her mind, she tried half-heartedly, "What if my definition of my marriage is not by law but by heart?" Chloe then chuckled. "Who am I kidding right?" Slowly, she reached back and unclasped her bra. Then she tossed it to him. It fell over his shoulder, and Lex allowed it to remain there.

"I'm very warm with all these clothes on," he said roughly, although he was then staring at the pale flesh she revealed. "Hit me where it hurts, Chloe."

"Fine. What is the name of the lead male character in The O.C. played by Benjamin McKenzie?"

Lex let out a hearty laugh. "Now you're playing!"

Chloe grinned and stood up, then walked towards him and straddled his thighs. "But I don't want to play anymore," she whispered, then bent down to kiss him straight on the lips. "I want you, Lex."

They had made love that night, countless times in the study. The books had fallen around them. In the end they lay on the carpet with Chloe's back to Lex. He raised himself on one elbow and traced a line on Chloe's skin from her shoulder to her knuckles.

"Are you feeling better now?" he had asked.

"Much," she sighed in satisfaction.

"What had you so riled up anyway? You're my problem-solver. I'm not used to inventing something to do to get you out of that mood."

"I was just thinking of everything I have to learn, how much I have to improve on," she told him. "My job offer finally came from the Washington Post. I've been waiting for that for ages."

He sat up and stared down at her. "What?"

"The Post, Lex!" she exclaimed as she lay flat on her back. Chloe reached out her hand to touch his stomach. "You of all people understad career goals. Aren't you happy for me?"

He caught her hand, and brought it up to his lips. "The Post is great and everything," he said, "but can it compare to the LuthorCorp Quarterly?"

"You're kidding if you think I'll trade this job to editing your company newsletter."

"And if I told you it comes with perks?"

She smiled and sat up. "Lex, you know I can't stay. I have to do this for me."

"If you think I would lose the best girlfriend I ever had, you must be insane," he said quietly. "You need movement? Change? Let's move in together."

Chloe suddenly laughed. "You think I'll stay so we can move in?"

"Will you stay if we got married?"

Chloe mouth dropped open. "Are you serious?"

Lex smiled at the memory. Even now, here in the darkness of the crash site, he felt the thrill of winning her over a tempting job in a state where everything that mattered to a journalist seemed to happen. She chose her over the White House, over the United Nations, over meeting a man whose passion for news and current events matched hers. Chloe became completely his in much more than being her first. He glanced over to where Bruce Wayne stood staring at remnants of the plane. That man had won deals over him but Lex had the confidence of knowing Bruce would never have her the way he did--so completely, against the odds.

How long he sat there, staring at his wife's lover stare at charred remains that most likely contained Chloe's ashes as well, Lex did not know. It was only when Bruce's figure finally turned around and looked at him that Lex realized that time must have passed quickly. He saw that look on Bruce's face, so ashen and mournful, his eyes red-rimmed.

Lex stood up when Bruce started walking towards the tent that his team had set up. When he emerged again, he had amazingly enough, as if they had not been in that heat for so long a time, a bouquet of flowers as fresh as if they had just been picked. Bruce lay the flower on the edge of the site.

The answer came by way of an old man who approached Bruce. Since he had not been part of Bruce's team of rescue workers, Lex assumed that the man had only just arrived with the flowers. Lex went up to them and he heard the last of their conversation. When the man Bruce had called Alfred vanished into camp, Lex nodded towards the flowers.

"She loved tulips best," Lex began.

"I thought you didn't reminisce."

"I thought I'd get onboard or else I'd seem like a cold-hearted bastard."

Bruce shook his head. "She loved all types of flowers. That's why she adored the Wayne estate."

"You were bachelor. Don't tell me the Wayne estate had a flower garden."

Wayne smiled faintly. "I cheated. When I saw how delighted she was with the flowers I gave her on our first date..."

Chloe and Lex's first date was up against a club alley wall.

"...I told her I had a flower garden. Then I called Alfred to get six gardeners out there and work on one."

"How much is missing?" Lex asked.

Bruce frowned. He did not deny it because Lex was too intelligent to be lied to. "I don't care. The entire Wayne fortune could disappear and I wouldn't care."

Lex smirked. "How stupid are you? She did the same thing to me, Wayne."

"Deep down I will always believe she's alive unless I have her heart on my palm and feel that it's not beating. Until that happens, I will always know there's an explanation to what she did."

Lex could not believe what he heard. "You're not even mad that she made a fool out of you. She took your money to her grave," he spat out, glaring at the charred remains of the plane.

"She had reasons that she'll tell me about when she comes home."

They were the last words that Bruce ever uttered to Lex Luthor. The next day, even before dawn broke, Lex was on his way back to Smallville, the entire flight thinking how envious he was of Bruce Wayne's blissful stupidity.

Oh to be so lost in the deceitful tangled vines in the forest of her green eyes.

tbc


	5. Chapter 5

Evergreen 

Part 5

Green was the hue that spoke so clearly and undoubtedly of envy. At the same time, so many used green to speak of fertility, of health. For Lex Luthor, green stood for the endless pool of Chloe's eyes that sent him to oblivion. When he looked into the fascinating orbs, he had no more care in the world. Often Lex wondered if he would allow himself to get lost in those green eyes again. Often he told himself that the question had no merit. When she had first left him to be with Bruce Wayne, in that landmark choice she had made far away from him, Lex Luthor decided that Chloe would not even have the chance to draw him in. She had been a liar and a sinner. Worse, Chloe had betrayed that flame of hope that he had lit when he gambled against the odds and married a girl fresh out of school who had barely a penny to her name. With one flourish of her pen, Chloe blew out that spark of light he held so dear.

No, Lex had decided, Chloe Luthor would never see a smile from him again, nor an extended hand. The thought should have made him stronger. Instead, Lex Luthor's heart fluttered in his cold chest. As he walked into the castle, striding along the corridors where she had once run from him, giggling, holding only a sheet around herself, his eyes stung with the salt of tears he was unwilling to shed for a treacherous ex.

Lex had swallowed heavily then. The coldness of the castle that had settled like a heavy blanket when she left tightened around him almost to the point that he needed to cough--so little was his air. Was Bruce Wayne inside his own manor then, thinking of betrayal and loss and regret, of treachery and vileness and hatred?

Truly, Lex doubted it. A better bet would be of the Wayne mogul standing in that stranded Pacific island, surveying still the crash site amidst the poisonous mosquitoes and stagnant puddles of water, braving death by some disease he could catch in a climate that his body was ill-suited for, holding on to the ridiculous hope that he would on the next moment glimpse a strand of blonde hair that would tell him where Chloe was. No doubt Bruce Wayne had imagined himself picking her battered body up in his arms, taking her home to his kingdom which was Gotham City, taking care of her until she woke up to tell him she loved him still, beyond anyone or any amount of fortune, beyond all that Lex Luthor ever was.

And Lex cursed the overactive imagination that took him away from the castle. Bruce Wayne had been so blissfully blindly enamored of Lex's wife that he did not fully comprehend how much she had stolen from him. Bruce Wayne had believed she was alive. Perhaps he was right, Lex thought ruefully. Chloe was alive, ensconced in a villa in Italy relishing in her success, laughing while counting the money she had taken from two men who surrendered everything they had to her.

Damn her, he thought to himself as he trudged his way to his bed. Damn her for the malicious bitch that she had turned out to be. Damn her for cheating him of so much more than money. Damn her for falling in love with another man before giving him a chance to fall out of love with her.

Damn her soul to fiery hell countless times because after all this, all he wanted now was the crawl to his bed and bury himself in the pillows that strangely enough, after so long, still smelled of her hair. All he wanted was to sleep in the bed that he had once shared with the temptress who seemed to be everything she was not.

Damn her, finally, for making him desire something that he would never have. Because of all that she had pretended to be, right at that moment, with his hand poised over the knob of the door to his bedroom, he remembered that his favorite welcome after an exhausting day at work was his wife in the bed, her arms warm and open.

Lex opened the door and stopped in his tracks, because the first figure that he saw was the looming one of a red-caped man. Superman stepped out of the shadows with a grave greeting, "I've been waiting."

"Leave. There are better days to talk."

"You will want to know what I have to say." Superman stepped aside and revealed on the bed that had been haunting Lex since forever. It was a picture perfect thing like love handed to you in a basket with a giant bow. "She was near death in the crash site. We took care of her as much as we could. Now she's almost recovered." So far from her, he quelled the urge to push away the Man of Steel so he could sit with her, reach for her to know she was real. "Lex," Superman said. When he turned, the hero continued, "She doesn't remember. In fact, when I asked her who to call, she said she only remembered you."

When, Lex wondered, would that desire to strangle and kill her consume him? He had prepared for it. Why was the only need that overwhelmed him at that time a trembling in his hands to touch her face?

Idly, Lex forced to his head lines he had read from her letter, when she had asked him to let her go. Ideally they were enough to spark that mind-numbing anger.

"Have you ever woken up beside someone, Lex, and feel so inadequate? Bruce is such a good man. I don't deserve him, but I want so much to be with him. I was ugly, Lex, and you and me were so suited to each other. Lex, I have never loved a man so clean, so completely without lies or secrets that he would give me everything..."

They were thoughts she had jotted down, Lex knew, to kill his every nerve. The very sound of her words gutted him. Now, as Superman moved away and out of the window, Lex could only walk slowly to that bed.

He sat beside her and gave in to his heart's desire. He touched the hair that fell over one cheek. Slowly, he brushed his fingers down her nose. As she moaned and furrowed deeper into the pillows that would not even more smell of her, Lex Luthor told himself that he would not lose her again.

"Money is found anywhere. I will find no one else like you."

Now, certain as he was that she was his, with all memory of Bruce or her treachery forgotten, Lex could freely claim that he admired how she accomplished her goals.

With a deep sigh released, Chloe opened the eyes that served as brand to his emotion. She gave him a small, sleepy smile, then asked, "Lex, what happened?" Her voice sent shivers down his spine.

Lex picked up her hand and kissed her palm. "You were sick. I'm glad you're better now."

Chloe nodded and moved over to her side. "Lie down beside me," she requested.

Staring deep into her eyes, he nodded. Lex kicked off his shoes and climbed in beside her. He spooned up behind her and pulled her closer against him. "I heard you didn't remember everything."

"I'm sorry, Lex," she whispered.

"Don't be," he returned, his voice low and soothing. "I will stay here with you every day, to hell with the company, until I can tell you everything that you don't remember. I promise."

She turned in his arms and looked him in the eye. "Thank you."

"First," he began, "I will help you remember our anniversary plans. We will be renewing our marriage vows."

Her lips parted in wonder. "Did I think of that?"

Without blinking, Lex claimed, "Of course you did. I would never have been able to think of such a great idea on my own."

"God, I'm so lucky to have you," she declared. Chloe placed her hands on both of his cheeks and tenderly drew him closer to her for a kiss. "I love you, Lex."

With tentative hands, Chloe reached down for Lex's belt buckle and helped him take off his pants. Then he pushed his shirt off his shoulders. Her butterly touches over his skin sent him shivering.

"I missed your touch," she whispered.

Lex moved over her and tenderly moved her legs open, then slid between them. "I missed you more," he swore. Lex closed his eyes and entered her in a gentle but fluid motion. Every thrust he made inside her causedher to suck her breath in with the quiet power that he revealed. "Tell me what you want," he whispered.

"Anything?"

"Everything," came his reassurance.

Just like so long ago, against the alley wall outside the club in Metropolis, after he had caught her stealing, Lex Luthor made a vow that he seemed unable to break.

"Everything then, Lex. Give me all of you," she named.

"You have it," he swore, as he released inside of her. "You've had it all along."

After, he settled against her on the bed, with his arm over her waist. Lex Luthor fell asleep in their bed, like the dreams that never ceased.

Half an hour must have passed, and Lex remained so deep in his sleep, like a man finally sated after a decade-long hunger. Chloe gingerly lifted his arm up so that she could slide underneath. Then, she padded across the room and out the door.

Barefoot, Chloe stepped out of the Luthor castle. She had not been waiting a full minute, when Superman landed on his feet in front of her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Did he hurt you again?"

She turned her head away, and left him to his own conclusions.

Superman cursed silently. "I knew I shouldn't have returned you here. Chloe, I can easily take you away. Give me the word."

"No!" She reached for his hand. "I love him. I won't leave him again."

"So you'll let him hurt you?"

"I'll be anything just to be with Lex," Chloe told him. "Did you keep the papers I gave you?"

Superman nodded. "It was the least I could do. I put them where you wanted."

She gave him a faint smile. "Thank you."

"Just remember that I will always be checking up on you. If he hurts you too much, just say the word, Chloe. I will take you away before he can even blink," Superman vowed.

Satisfied, Chloe waved Clark away. She padded back inside the house and slid in beside Lex on the bed. At the movement, he stirred and asked, "Where have you been?"

"I needed some water," she explained. Chloe burrowed deeper in Lex's arms and with a gentle whisper, she bid, "Just sleep."

Forever green.

fin


End file.
